Special election will be held to fill empty seats

Student Union Secretary Charlotte Franco ’15 announced in an email to students on Monday that elections for vacant positions in the Student Union will run from noon today to noon tomorrow.

The student body will vote on one Class of 2016 senator, one Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program senator, one Foster Mods senator, one Ridgewood Quad senator, one Ziv Quad senator and one Village senator.

Running for the position of Class of 2016 senator are Niki Laskarus ’16 and Meher Irani ’16.

Irani wrote in an email to the Justice that she chose to run for the position because she feels that she can represent the views of the class well after spending two years together and because she has experience from serving as class president in high school.

She wrote, “[T]o be honest, I’m not sure how much class senators can actually change. My hope is that I will assist with any major changes that are taking place and this is where representing the ideas of my class would play a major role.”

“I do have ideas of my own and ideally if I find that class senators can really step up and initiate changes, I would love to propose my ideas for the dining system… I would love to work with the Dining services to come up with ways to make the lines in lower Usdan shorter.”

Laskarus wrote to the Justice that she chose to run because she wants the rest of her Brandeis career to be “exceptional,” and she feels that she should do as much as possible to make it happen.

“I plan to get very involved with Student Events and Dining Services in order to take care of my class’ wishes,” she wrote.

John Novas ’19, who is running for the position of Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program senator, did not respond to request for comment by press time.

Brad Burns ’15 and Patrick Vaughn ’16 are running for the position of Ridgewood Quad senator.

Burns wrote in an email to the Justice, “For three years I have complained about the Student Union and the way they handle issues ranging from dining to clubs… I want to see them do more, and I think with my experience as a student leader on campus, including President of [Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society] (one of the biggest clubs Brandeis has) I can help push it in a positive direction.”

He wrote that, if elected, he would like to work with the administration to find solutions to mailroom and dining issues, as well as work on updating University sexual assault protocols. He also said he hopes to work to find more ways for club leaders to interact and work together.

Vaughn did not respond to request for comment by press time.

Dor Cohen ’16 is running for the position of Ziv Quad senator.

He wrote in an email to the Justice that he is running for the position because he thinks he will be able to understand and address issues in Ziv Quad and implement solutions.

Of his goals as senator, Cohen wrote, “I will work with DCL and facilities on ensuring that Ziv 127 & 128 will also be renovated, having quad-wide events to bring the Ziv community closer together, and convey the student body’s opinions on the failings of various services, including the mail, shuttle, and dining services.” He also plans to create a Ziv Quad Facebook page to increase communication among residents.

Shereen Undavia ’17, Danny Kimmel ’17 and Anthony Nomakeo ’17 are running for the position of Village senator. None of them responded to request for comment by press time.

As of press time, no one is running for the position of Foster Mods senator.